Managing & Using MySQL, 2nd Edition

Frequently Used MySQL Library Functions

This chapter develops applications using the following PHP calls:

resource mysql_pconnect([string host[:port] ], [string username ], [string password ])

Used to establish a connection to the MySQL DBMS. Upon success, the function returns a connection resource handle that can be used to access databases through subsequent function calls. It returns false on failure.

The function has three optional parameters. The first is the host name of the DBMS and an optional port number; a default port of 3306 for MySQL is assumed if the port is omitted. The host parameter is usually set to localhost when the MySQL DBMS and the web server are running on the same machine.

The username and password are MySQL DBMS username and password credentials. These are the same username and password used to access the DBMS though the command-line monitor mysql.

int mysql_select_db (string database , [resource connection ])

Use the specified database through the connection. The connection is a resource handle returned from mysql_pconnect( ). The second parameter is optional but always recommended in practice. The function returns true on success and false on failure.

resource mysql_query(string SQL, [resource connection ])

Run an SQL statement through a MySQL DBMS connection. The second parameter is optional but always recommended in practice. On success, the function returns a query result resource that can be used to fetch data. The function returns false ...